The Nothing To See Here Hotel by Steven Butler

Monday, 22 April 2019

Welcome to The Nothing to See Here Hotel! A hotel for magical creatures, where weird is normal for Frankie Banister and his parents who run the hotel.

When a goblin messenger arrives at The Nothing to See Here Hotel, announcing the imminent arrival of the goblin prince Grogbah, Frankie and his family rush into action to get ready for their important guest. But it soon becomes obvious that the Banister family are going to have their work cut out with the demanding prince and his never-ending entourage, especially when it turns out the rude little prince is hiding a secret...

If you're a regular reader of the book reviews on here you'll know that for a long time I've reviewed a very wide range of books for all ages. I'm totally not opposed to reading children's and young adult fiction as there's so many excellent books out there to enjoy. With that being said, I am reviewing a children's book today so if it's not your thing I understand but if you're curious to find out what I thought of the weird and wonderful hotel for magical creatures then read on!

The Nothing to See Here Hotel has been in Frankie's family for many years. Billed as a place for magical creatures to rest away from the normal world. To stop humans from entering the hotel it look like a run down, dirty hotel to the normal eye but in reality it's a wonderfully quirky hotel for magical beings of all description. When Frankie and his family receive a message that a goblin prince will be coming to stay though they have to make sure the hotel is up to the standards the demanding prince will be expecting. However no one is quite ready for how rude the prince is and the big secret he's brought with him.

First of all I think this is a wonderful book for kids, I'm a massive advocate of getting kids interested in reading and this is certainly a book that I think many children would love. It's fast paced and funny and there's lots of quirky characters for them to enjoy. As an adult too though I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a nice quick read which is sometimes just what I need as a bit of break without quitting reading altogether.

Personally I would have liked to have known a bit more about the hotel and it's many guests in this first book and I would have reserved the story of Grogbah for another book. From the snippets littered throughout I think a very good narrative could've been built up just about the hotel and it's magical guests. For me this would have set it up as a bit more of a series (there are currently two more books that follow this one) but that's just a personal preference.

Whether you're a parent looking for a funny and exciting read for your child or you're an adult wanting something light-hearted and easy then this book has you covered and I'm looking forwards to reading the other books in the series.